Recipe: Tartine Bakery's Chocolate Pudding

When I tasted Tartine's Chocolate Pudding for the first time, I thought: "This is how chocolate pudding should taste!" It has the right balance of richness and the texture is velvety smooth. Overall, this dessert just makes you happy. I decided to make this at home on Valentine's Day because chocolate is the thing to eat on this day of love. Why get your romantical chocolate in a heart shaped box when you can get it on a spoon?

This recipe is easy for bakers of all levels (truth!) and is relatively fast. No baking is involved, just some stove-top action. Once you portion it out, it doesn't take long to cool, so this pudding can be in your belly in under a couple hours. #fistpump

If you're looking to step up your pudding game, look no further. Tartine, thanks for nailing chocolate pudding.

Tartine Bakery's Chocolate Pudding
Recipe from Tartine Bakery Cookbook
Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients
1 3⁄4 cups (14 oz/425 ml) whole milk
1⁄2 cup heavy cream, plus 2 tablespoons (5 oz/155 ml) heavy cream (plus 1 cup/8 oz for topping later on)
1⁄4 cup (1 oz/30 g) cornstarch
3⁄4 cup (5 oz/140 g) sugar
3 tablespoons (45 ml) cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1⁄4 teaspoon (1 ml) salt
2 1⁄2 ounces (70 g) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions
1.  Place a fine-mesh sieve over a large heat-proof container.
2.  In a saucepan, combine the milk and cream; heat to just under a boil. Pro Tip: When you start to see a good amount of steam while you're stirring it, you're close!
3.  Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, combine the cornstarch and sugar; sift in the cocoa powder; whisk until blended.
4.  In another bowl, whisk the eggs with the salt until blended, then add to the sugar mixture and whisk until well combined.
5.  Slowly add half of the hot milk mixture to the egg mixture while whisking constantly. Pro Tip: Don't rush this part or, as my chef has said, you'll make "egg-drop soup!"
6.  Pour the combined egg mixture back into the pan with the rest of the milk mixture; cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture has visibly thickened and reads 208° on a thermometer, should take about 5-7 minutes, depending on how cold your eggs are.
7.  Immediately pour the contents of the pan through the sieve. Pro Tip: to help it along, use a small ladle/spatula/spoon to push it through, moving it in a circular motion.
8.  Add the chocolate and let the heat of the milk/egg mixture melt it.
9.  When the chocolate has melted, blend with an immersion blender for a full 5 minutes until no lumps are visible. Stop the blender and scrape down the sides of the container with a rubber spatula here and there.
10.  Immediately portion pudding into individual cups; let cool, and serve at room temperature, topped with whipped cream.
FYI: The pudding will keep, well covered, in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Want to get wild and crazy?
• Try adding some cinnamon and cayenne pepper during the immersion blender stage (or earlier, whatevs) to taste and you've got yourself a Mexican Chocolate Pudding! Boom.
• Try adding some mint OR orange extract to taste (start small!) for a mint (or orange) chocolate experience. Blammo.

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All Good Things Must Come To An End

And the next thing I know, 4 months of pastry school has come and gone. Did somebody fast forward my life because that sure as hell felt fast! Well, it's been quite the ride and I'm coming out of these 4 months feeling like I've been exposed to so much in the pastry world, yet, somehow I still lack confidence and feel like I have a truckload of things to learn and improve on. I suppose that's a good thing to feel, right? I'm actually glad that I'm not sauntering out of these 4 months thinking I'm the golden god of desserts. I'd have to slap myself in the face if so.

I started my 2 month externship at Tartine Bakery these last two weeks, and while I'd love to fill you in about that, you'll have to wait because you still haven't heard about the last 3 weeks of class! They were a memorable 3 weeks too so lets catch you up to speed shall we?

Week 14 - Plated Desserts
Ahhh a beautifully plated dessert. There's nothing more easy on the eyes than a beautifully plated dessert, other than a shirtless Ryan Reynolds of course (it's OK, my husband agrees that you can shred cheese on those abs). Plating dessert is a skill I wanted to improve on for awhile. Our chef showed us how to plate a variety of desserts; mashups that I would never think of putting together. We learned that plated desserts should have a balance of different tastes, textures and temperatures such as this killer dessert: Mango Custard with Roasted Pineapple, Coconut Sorbet, Coconut Snow, Kalamansi Gel and Micro Basil. We also learned that dessert should have the same style/size/vibe as the savory portion of the meal. Along with plated desserts, we had Nicole Krasinski, pastry chef/co-owner of the fantastic State Bird Provisions, pay us a visit to show us how to make a few of State Bird's desserts- SO so awesome. We ended the week with the fabulous Jeffrey Larsen, from our gluten-free workshop. Our final gluten-free project was due and Jeffery gave us some great feedback and critique on each of our desserts. My Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars weren't bad, but they were nothing compared to my classmate's gluten-free Triple Ginger Cookies. She nailed it. If I were an Olympic judge, I would give it a perfect 10.

Week 15 - Bakery Day Prep/Bakery Day
This week was all about prepping for our Bakery Day on Friday. Bakery Day was our final project where we got to invite a few friends/family to come to our school and be wined and dined on our behalf. We had a "pass" portion where we made/served food to them live and there was a "boxed" portion where they got to fill a box full of baked goods to take home that we made ahead of time. My classmates and I came up with these two menus together which took several rounds of narrowing down. Brutal cuts had to be made, such as any dessert involving peanut butter that I found only myself fighting for. I meannnn, who doesn't like peanut butter?! Sigh. So we came to a group consensus on the menus, each of us signed up for multiple items (mostly in teams) and planned out the to-dos for each day. My items were: Passion Fruit Caramels, Chocolate Caramels, Honey Lavender Macarons and Scallion Pancakes with Soy Dipping Sauce. My teammates and I banged out the caramels and pancakes, which had essentially no hiccups, but man oh man did the macarons ever. Those mac-attacks were real assholes. Firstly, they are labor-intensive to make, secondly, they just didn't want to cooperate. Long story short, we ended up having to make 4 batches until we got it right. Luckily in the end, they tasted good and looked pretty enough. Pro Tip: A topper of edible gold paint can take your macaron game from a 5 to a 9.

Bakery Day overall was a blast. We all wore orange bandannas which made us look like a cross between 2Pac and Rosie the Riveter, but we still looked cute in my humble. Shrug. All of our hard work leading to this day paid off- the decor and setup looked beautiful and professional, the kitchen crew killed it and the front of house foursome (myself included) made sure our guests were well fed and happy. It was so fun getting to meet all my classmates' people and see/hear how everyone was liking the food. It felt like a huge accomplishment and even though we could have improved on a few things, I was super proud of all of us. #goteam

Week 16 - Final exams & Field Trips
This week was a blend of low-key field trips and high stress test days - great fun for your blood pressure. Our field trips were to Williams-Sonoma Test Kitchen, Guittard Chocolate and B. Patisserie. We started things off at good 'ol Williams-Sonoma! It brought me back to my old catalog life as I walked through the doors. It was such fun seeing this famous test kitchen in person. Fun Fact: The test kitchen ladies are the ones who judged the Chuck Williams Birthday Bake-Off (RIP Chuck) that I fatley lost in a few years ago. These ladies have a stellar gig: they get to test recipes for future catalogs. Hello dream-job. At Guittard, we got a grand tour of their facilities and got to see how they make their delicious chocolate - they are one hell of a well-oiled machine! We closed out the field trips at B. Patisserie where they make some of the best pastries I've ever had (their Kouign Amann is insane!) Eating their pastries would have been a fun field-trip in itself, but we got a chance to have B's kick-ass pastry chef, Belinda Leong, talk to us about her background and tell us her B. Patisserie story. Our last day at school was spent being fed by the lovely Culinary Arts class for their final project: Restaurant Day. They did a FANtastic job, to put it lightly.

The class portion of school is over, but all good things must come to an end. Now, I'm in the land of Tartine Bakery and that ain't bad. ;-)

Lets bring it on home with a photo montage from these 3 weeks! Cue song. Sidenote: I had never seen this music video before. Hello glam rock at it's finest. Cheers!

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Carb Loaded For Life

Friends! It's been awhile. Like 4 weeks awhile. Lots of pastry school updates to be had, but lets start in reverse order, because I have exciting recent news.

We found out this week where we got placed for our externships. This is where we'll be working and spending all of our time for the last two months of the program, it's MAJOR. A few weeks ago, we all had a one-on-one with the founder of the school and ever since then, I've been anxiously-nervously-excitedly wondering where the devil I'll end up! On Wednesday morning, we were told that we'll all find out at lunchtime. Deep breath. Eeks magee. Lunchtime rolls around, and every one of us are silently on our phones, obsessively refreshing our email like a bunch of buffoons. And then, like dominoes, one by one, the emails start coming. Murmuring and smiles come next. I refresh my email for the 20th time and there it is. I open my email to see that I got placed at the same location where this journey began: Tartine Bakery! Motherf*&%ing Tartine! So SO excited. Want to know where everyone else got placed? Yeah ya do! NOPA, Chez Panisse, Quince, State Bird Provisions, Feve, Jane on Larkin, Little Bee Baking, Neighbor Bakehouse, Craftsman and Wolves, Della Fattoria and Cake Coquette. Bad. Ass. So excited for my pastry school peeps.

#photoshopskillzonpoint

Lets continue this Memento-like order recap in reverse, shall we?

Week 13: Breads 2
That's what it said in our syllabus: "Breads 2." Pretty self-explanatory <insert sarcastic looking emoji of your choice here>. We only had two days of class this week before Thanksgiving break and they were filled with "quick breads," mostly breakfast-type pastries. Waffles, coffee cake (best I've ever had), muffins, brioche to name a few and one of the BEST croissants I've ever had: a PRETZEL croissant! Yes, it's as good as it sounds. Actually, it's better than it sounds.

Week 12: Laminated Dough
Translation: CROISSANTS!! There was a lot of <under the radar> happy dancing and fist-pumps this week. Laminated dough is dough consisting of many thin layers of dough separated by butter, produced by repeated folding and rolling. Fun Fact: Croissants have 81 layers, while puff pastry typically has about 1000. #mindblown We had chef Brian Wood from Starter Bakery come in to show us how croissant making is done. He's the king of all things croissant, and also, you haven't lived if you haven't eaten his kouign amann. #lifechanging Chef Brian also kindly participated in a "Last Supper" photo you can get a glimpse of below. He makes an excellent Jesus. We finished out the week with a visit to the kickass Craftman and Wolves facility. Chef William Werner gave us a personal tour of the digs and his soon to be expansion. It was beautiful, spotless and I noted that they had pretty much one of every tool and machine a pastry gal could dream of. Chef William really impressed us. Confident, business savvy and smart as a whip. I want to be like him when I grow up.

Week 11: Breads 1
The first installment of bread. This week was eye-opening. We made more of your classic loaves and baguettes this week. Guest chef Michael Kalanty joined us for a day to show us his way of making some classic breads like pan au levain and San Francisco sour dough. He takes the cake for my favorite guest chef. He's not only hugely entertaining and hilarious, but he's a fantastic teacher. Sign up for one of his classes, and thank me later. Other notable things we made: bagels, pretzels and babka, oh my! We closed out the week with a field trip to Central Milling in Petaluma. Nicky Giusto was our fabulous host who took us on a baguette making adventure. Chef Nicky is competing in the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in Paris (a.k.a. The World Cup of bread baking), representing for team U.S.A. He's that good!

Week 10: Ice Cream, Gelato, Frozen Desserts
Yes, yes and yes. Guest chefs Bill Corbett, former pastry chef of Absinthe, and Patti Dellamonica-Bauler, pastry chef at One Market, paid us separate visits and taught us their style of ice cream making. Chef Bill is all about the science angle of ice cream making utilizing emulsifiers and stabilizers such as Cremodan 30 that give ice cream viscosity and also delays the melting of ice cream. Too much of this can give ice cream a chalky, gummy mouth feel though so watch yourself. Chef Patti's angle was all natural, sans stabilizers. Ironically enough, one of our freezers broke during this week. Reminded me of the good ol' Pottery Barn days when the printer broke at clutch times like before a film review. Figures. All in all, it was an ice cream-tastic week.

So you might have noticed that we had three three glorious weeks of bread. THREE! That's some serious carb-loading.

And now, while I start my bread detox, here's a photo montage of the last 4 weeks. Oh, and cue this song first because I said so.

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Still Not Sick Of Dessert

I'm halfway through pastry school friends! Thinking about this makes me both a bit anxious and sad. Anxious because I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Meaning, when people ask me what I’d like to do after I finish school (which has been a go-to question since enrolling in school), I don't have an answer. I have a few ideas I've been mulling over, but it would be much easier if the answer hit me like a ton of bricks, or perhaps if it came to me in a dream…delivered by Matt Damon. Just sayin’. I’m hoping over time this will become more clear. Being halfway done also bums me out because I actually like going to school- hell, I even look forward to it! I mean, why wouldn't I? I get to make copious amounts of killer desserts daily, and I'm constantly learning something new. Everyday includes brand-spanking new recipes I’ve never tackled before, and that’s so exciting to me. It's kinda like opening gifts on Christmas morning, but filled with more dessert and less pajamas.

Some of the best things I’ve learned so far have become mottos that I repeat in my head all the time (I usually hear them in my teacher’s voice though). Here are a few golden nuggets for your pleasure:

• Have a sense of urgency! You're going to get more done faster if you work quickly and efficiently. This also includes walking with a purpose, and if you don't, I'm going to mow your ass down! Sorry I'm not sorry.
• If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean. Funny, yes, but damnit it's true too. Don't be a slouch and go wipe something down or put something away. I've used this line on my hubs recently...he wasn't amused.
• Get your full yield! Translation: when you're doing any kind of product transferring from one container to another (i.e. measuring cups or a mixing bowl), scrape out as much of what's in there as you can. I’ve had those moments in the past where I'd shrug and say “good enough,” but there’s actually a lot more on the sides of that bowl than you think. It can effect your recipe and it’s a bit wasteful too, unless you're planning on licking the bowl, then I fully support that.
• The oven light is your friend, use it. When you open the oven, the temperature drops 25 degrees! 'Tis a lot so stop opening that blasted oven and use the blasted light!
• Keep your work-space clean. Done with the Kitchenaid? Put that sucker away! Got a pile of dirty bowls? Get that pile to a sink pronto! You will feel more organized and will work more efficiently if you clean as you go. It's a fact.

So mottos aside, I need to catch you up on these last three weeks. It’s been FULL and loads of fun.

Week 7 was all kinds of awesome. It focused on pastry doughs: brownies, blondies and cookies galore. Highlights? We made over 25 different cookie/brownie/blondie creations. Having to sample each of these goodies was hard work <said nobody ever>. By the end of the week, we made bakery boxes for our VIPs filled with our favorite desserts we’ve made thus far. This was a fun project because we had to really team up and work together in order to get these boxes done on time. My favorite thing in the box? The Candy Cap Pecan Cookies, hands down. Candy Cap is a mushroom, but alas these taste nothing like 'shrooms. They instead taste like a nutty maple buttery dreamboat. Other than the lucky VIPs, each of us were able to take a box of love home too. Another highlight was taking on a fun project: as a class, come up with our best version of a chocolate chip cookie. Apparently, a former pastry class tackled the same project and their recipe ended up being published in Bon Appétit! Hugely impressive and the bar has been set. Game on.

Week 8 was themed “advanced chocolate and confections.” Translation: we made a plethora of gourmet candy bars (i.e. Snickers) and other yum-tastic candy. Highlights? We spent one of the days at Feve Artisan Chocolatier learning how to decorate and shell chocolate. This was super fun because we got to get artsy-fartsy with the decorating by using gold dust, a spray gun and even just finger painting. It’s unreal how gorgeous chocolates can be. These chocolates that Feve make literally look like works of art. I'm almost inclined to say that they're too pretty to eat, but lets be honest, these beauties were meant to be pretty in my belly.

Week 9 was boot camp week- repetition and timed drills. Highlights? Other than being able to make 30 crepes in 10 minutes and dice 2 carrots into 1/4 inch squares (my own personal hell), we had a THREE HOUR cheese tasting workshop. It sounds amazing right? It really was, but towards the end of the last hour, I felt like a wheel of cheese in human form. Another workshop we did that week, was a gluten-free/food allergies workshop. We live in SF so this is great knowledge to have as the gluten-free population is strangely growing higher by the minute. We also made macarons! These are one of the most beautiful time-consuming cookies I've ever made before, but so worth it in the end. We even got to create our own version with a teammate- we made lemon poppy seed macs.

As for this week, it’s ice cream o’clock! More specifically, a week of ice cream, gelato and frozen desserts. My husband clearly is most excited about this week because after I told him, he did a happy car dance that lasted an awkwardly long time.

Want to stare at some pretty desserts now? Cue this song, enjoy and I’ll see you on the flip side.

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Pastry School: Three Weeks Deep!

I'm three weeks deep into pastry school at SFCS! How the devil did that happen?! It's been whirlwindy, but in all the right ways. The first week felt like information overload, since everything was so new; my head was a bit spiny at times, but by the end of the second and even more the third week, I started feeling like I was starting to get the hang of things.

Lets start by answering some go-to questions people have asked me:
1.  Do I like pastry school? Hell to the yes. It's tough and I feel in over my head sometimes, but I get to bake everyday and learn new things about one of my favorite subjects- constantly! Also, I get to work alongside fellow dessert fiends <my people!> How awesome is that?
2.  How many people are in your class? 12 lovely ladies. They're bomb.com.
3.  Who's the teacher? The brilliant badass Nicole Plue. She's the real deal.
4.  Do you wear a chef's hat? Jah! I wear the whole getup, "chef's whites" if you will: hat, coat, pants, apron and kitchen shoes. I always carry a pen, sharpie and lil' notebook too. I look like the nerdiest nerd who every nerded...or maybe i look legit. Jury's out.
5.  What do you want to do afterwards? Any end game? No idea! But I'm hoping I will know in 6 months. Wait for it...! 

So far so good friends. Like I said, I'm learning SO. MUCH. It's insane how much I didn't know in the world of baking. My mind is being blown on the daily.

A couple valuable things I learned so far:
• Read through the entire recipe a few (or five) times before you begin. You could miss a step or a vital ingredient- gasp! You could be unprepared for the next direction and end up over-whipping your french meringue- double gasp!
• Setup is key! Before you start a recipe, setup all the equipment/tools/ingredients you'll need, including your "dismount." We're not talking an Olympic dismount, it's where you're going to place your dessert after it's done cooking/baking/cooling/mixing etc. This entire setup, in the culinary world, is called your "mise en place" a French culinary phrase meaning "everything in its place." It sets you up for success and will make you a more efficient chef!
• A baking scale is everything: I feel like such a buffoon because I used to rely on my measuring cups, heavily. Know what's faster and more accurate? Weighing shit! Do it. I'm a changed lady.
• Don't just watch your water boil, do something! Translation: make sure you're ready for the next step in your recipe (and the step after that, and the step after that); clean, put things away...anything but be a useless yammo while you wait.
• Listen to the teacher when she talks. Sounds simple enough, but I get distracted by shiny things sometimes. Listen intently and save it to your hard drive. That way you won't look like a dumb dumb when you ask a Q she already answered, 10 times. <insert awkward emoji face>

As an overview of pastry school thus far, week one was all about baking fundamentals, week two was all things eggs and week three was <dramatic pause> chocolate week. Yes friends, week three was as amazing as it sounds, and then some. What better way to recap these first three weeks than with a good old-fashioned photo-montage. <cue this song>

More updates to come! Looking forward to sharing my sweet <pun intended> journey with you.

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Hey Guess What?

It's been crickets at Dessert Fiend, and here's why...I'M GOING TO PASTRY SCHOOL! Over the past month, I've been fully consumed in this venture. Excited? Heck yes. Nervous? Double heck yes.

Ever since I left my job at Williams-Sonoma, I've been not only thoroughly enjoying the free time, and then some, but I've also been trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I became stuck trying to answer that question, until a month ago, when I had a Dr. House epiphany.

You know when you have those overwhelming euphoric "clouds are parting" moments if life? Well, I don't really have those moments, except when it comes to food. It's magical. This kind of moment and epiphany happened when I was at one of my happy places: Tartine Bakery. As I waited in line, I had this profound itch to know what was happening on the other side of this bakery of the gods, behind the scenes if you will. It didn't look like a cake walk in the kitchen <no pun intended>, but I wanted to be involved in the action, badly, and wondered if and how and when I could make this happen. Wheels: turning.

The next thing I knew, I was Googling pastry schools that following week. I realized that going to school to learn all I can about one of my favorite subjects felt like the exact step I should be taking. After extensive research, I found a school that sounded just right: San Francisco Cooking School. That name doesn't fool around- it means what it says and says what it means. Days later, I had a fantastic phone conversation with the founder of the school and the more I heard about the program, the more I wanted to be a part of it. The following week, I went to their open house with my application in hand. I was sold. The space is seriously gorgeous (hello dream kitchen!) and their signature color happens to be orange (like my hair!) Meant to be I tell ya. I excitedly walked out of the open house with a bounce in my step. A few weeks later, I got the good news that I had been accepted into the fall program at SFCS. I was grinning like an idiot and actually teared up a bit out of excitement and relief.

So that's my little story friends. Dessert Fiend is going to pastry school! I know it's going to be A LOT of hard work and long hours, but if the outcome means I get to bake desserts that make people happy, then game on. MANY more posts to come as I embark on this journey <picture me on a row boat paddling my way down a chocolate milk river, a la Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory>.

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Review: Three Twins Ice Cream

When my BF (now hubs) and I moved in together, we were stoked to discover an ice cream shop two blocks from our new place. "This could be very, very dangerous" I recall saying to him. The shop was Three Twins Ice Cream, and we were excited to see what it was all about. After waltzing into the hard to miss lime green shop for the first time, it didn't take long for us to fall madly in love with the shop and their ice cream. Three Twins was founded by Neal Gottlieb, his twin Carl, and his twin's wife Liz, hence the clever name. Their ice cream is organic (how very San Francisco) and they kindly donate one percent of sales to land conservation initiatives through 1% for the Planet. Eat delicious ice cream for a good cause = reason to never feel guilty about eating ice cream again! I'm game. Also, if you're feeling really generous (and hungry), you can order the World's Most Expensive Ice Cream Sundae, that clocks in at $3,333.33. When I win the lottery, this may or may not be one of the first purchases I make...I mean...how could you not be curious about this?!

Naturally, we became regulars here in no time. We loved trying each of their creative mash-up of flavors such as Chocolate Orange Confetti and Dad's Cardamom. YUM. My personal combo favorites are Sea Salted Caramel with Chocolate Malt OR Lemon Cookie with Strawberry Je Ne Sais Quoi <cue drooling>. Pro Tip: If you are going for a two scooper, I recommend you ask someone working there for a suggestion. They're the pros, after all. My hubs has many a time gone rogue and paired up flavors that create a questionable combo-bite. Order wisely my friends.

A few months after we discovered our precious spot, we were crushed to hear they had to close due to damage caused by a fire in one of the apartments over the shop. They said not to worry and that the repairs should only take a handful of months. Two years later...(which was a long painful ice cream-deprived wait), they opened their doors again, which are a boring grey now, but we didn't care. It was like Christmas when we happily skipped over to the shop's re-opening night. We giddily placed our order, after a sample or five, and felt complete again.

Hook yourself up with a double scoop at one of these shops and thank me later, or if you're feeling lazy, grab a pint at a SF grocery store (most have Three Twins), or if you're the laziest of lazy, order some pints online.

Overall Rating: 5 Ice Cream Cheers'

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